5.6.10

I feel tarty.

Exams are around the corner and in order to relief some stress, i turn to baking.It makes me feel calm and whats more, after that i can have a little reward in my tummy. =)

this week i made loads of shortcrust pastry goodies.

first up is a caramelised onion and gorgonzola quiche.

believe it or not i baked it at 12am in the morning when i had this sudden urge to make/cook something.

next, are some hongkong style eggtarts.

At first i thought the pastry was too crumby.After eating the second one, i realised this problem was resolved after it was cooled completely.So yes, at the end of the day i was happy with the outcome of the pastry, and i didnt even have to blind bake it!

A long long while i baked some Portuguese egg tarts and they got soggy after a day.

1. Place the self-raising and plain flours, caster sugar and butter in a food processor. Process on medium speed for about 20 seconds, until mixture resembles fine fresh breadcrumbs (there shouldn't be any large chunks of butter).

2. Add egg and process on medium speed for about 15-30 seconds, until egg is incorporated and mixture clumps together

3. Form dough into a flattened round and place in a freezer bag or wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

4. Roll out pastry between two sheets of baking paper or on a lightly floured board to fit a tart tin. Lift pastry into pie plate and gently press into dish.

5. Trim pastry overhanging the sides.

6. Place a sheet of baking paper on top of the pastry and fill with pastry weights or uncooked rice.

2. Add in flour. Mix well. (If the dough is sticky for you , well maybe your yolks are larger than mine, add in extra flour by the teaspoon until it no longer feels sticky, but got a slight flour feel to it, but not too much though, as it will toughen the crust. the borderline of stickiness and dry feel is very thin.. so, add extra flour with caution)

3. Roll out pastry in between two sheets of plastic into thickness of about 4mm. Stamp out 9–10cm circles of pastry with a pastry cutter.